The invention relates to a combination lollipop holder and stand.
Lollipops have been consumed for many years. and the disadvantages arising particularly with young children, such as sticky hands producing cross-contamination, slippage from an unreliable grasp and hygienic placement of the lollipop between periods of intermittent consumption are well recognized.
A hand-held lollipop holder which obviates such disadvantages, which is amusing and therefore conducive to use and is of low cost, suited for distribution with the lollipop would clearly be desirable.
One prior lollipop holder is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,200 issued 1997 to Shecter, teaches a toy telephone which has an integral lollipop handle, holder in which the lollipop is mounted on a slide which retracts the lollipop into an internal compartment between periods of consumption. However, this is a relatively bulky, heavy, complex and expensive, multipart construction, and as such, unsuitable for general distribution with lollipops, or for use by a young child from whose hand it could easily be dropped with expensive consequences.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 353,251 issued 1994 to Beck teaches a safety candy holder having cylindrical handle with a constricted lollipop receiving bore and a finger guard outstanding from opposite sides at one end. However, the smoothly surfaced cylindrical handle could, when inverted, easily slip from the grasp of a child user, while the structure does not provide an additional source of amusement which would be conducive to regular use. Furthermore, the right cylindrical shape of the handle results in a relatively small base and relatively instability, if freestanding.
Other lollipop holders, taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,535 and 5,536,054, include complex and expensive lollipop spinning mechanisms and are otherwise unsuited for the purpose of the present invention.
It is an object of the invention to provide a combination lollipop holder and stand which provides a handle with a finger guard, adapted to be held securely in the grasp of a child .
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such combination lollipop holder and stand which is formed by only a single piece of small size, adapted for manufacture at high volume and low cost by conventional mass production techniques.
According to one aspect, the invention provides a combination lollipop holder and stand having a handle-providing body formed in a shape of a headless humanoid character and diverging downward to a foot, with a bore extending into the body from a neck position and force-fitted with a stick of a lollipop for retention when inverted and so that the stick resembles a neck and a lollipop candy thereon resembles a consumable head of the character.
More specifically, the invention provides a combination lollipop holder and stand comprising a unitary body forming an animal character and having an elongate torso providing a handle portion, two arm parts outstanding laterally from an upper end of the torso, providing a finger guarding portion and a leg part diverging from opposite sides of a lower end of the body to a flat, foot part, providing a base portion; and, a bore extending between the arms parts vertically into the torso and provided with constriction for gripping a stick of a lollipop inserted into the bore and thereby forming an extended neck and consumable head of the character. In this structure, engagement of the arm and leg parts above and below a hand enclosing the torso prevents inadvertent dislodgement of the lollipop from the hand and the constriction prevents inadvertent dislodgement of the lollipop from the bore, even when inverted.
Preferably, substantially the entire body lies within a vertical envelope bounded by the perimeter of the foot part and the torso is substantially pear shaped, both improving stability.